Xiaomi Mi 6: The $360 Galaxy S8 Killer with Snapdragon 835

As famed YouTuber Marques Brownlee has stated several times before, good phones are getting cheaper and cheap phones are getting good. One of the brands that has really taken this philosophy to heart is Xiaomi and they have now announced the newest flagship phone in the form of the Xiaomi Mi 6. This is a flagship killer at a fraction of the price.

While you don’t get the incredible “Infinity Display” of the decidedly more expensive Samsung Galaxy S8, you do get the top end Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor. The only other device set to tout this chip (so far) is the Sony XZ Premium and that’s not coming out until some time in the summer. The rest of the spec sheet on the Xiaomi Mi 6 is equally impressive.

Behind the 5.15-inch display are 6GB of RAM and a 3,350 mAh battery. The premium design continues with a metal frame and curved glass back, along with a dual camera array (a la iPhone 7 Plus) with 12MP sensors for both wide-angle and telephoto shots (2x). And like Apple, Xiaomi has also ditched the headphone jack on this phone. Main connectivity is via USB-C.

The best part is the price. The Xiaomi Mi 6 starts as low as 2499 RMB ($360) for the 64GB model, stepping up to 2899 RMB ($420) for 128GB of internal storage. Toss in an extra 100 yuan (for a total of 2999 RMB or about $435 US) to get a Mi 6 with a ceramic back. The sad news is that it’s very unlikely this phone will ever hit North American shores in any official capacity as Xiaomi continues to focus its efforts on the Chinese domestic market.